


Golden Wings

by itszhyboo



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst, Blaze Hybrid Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), DreamXD - Freeform, Duck Hybrid Alexis | Quackity, El Rapids, Gen, Holding Hands, Hybrid Alexis | Quackity, Mentioned Dream, Mentioned Philza Minecraft, Mentioned Schlatt, Mentioned Wilbur Soot, Mild Hurt/Comfort, New L'Manberg, Wings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-18 07:08:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29730195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itszhyboo/pseuds/itszhyboo
Summary: It had been nearly a year since the message:Quackity joined the game.Had graced the Dream SMP chat. Since then, he had witnessed fraudulent elections, the rise and fall of countries, and the chaos of battle, but in a rare era of peace, all Quackity could think of was a thing that he had lost even before he had gotten caught up in any of the SMP's conflicts: the familiar flap of his wings.
Relationships: Alexis | Quackity & Karl Jacobs & Sapnap
Kudos: 20





	Golden Wings

**Author's Note:**

> Ayup, Ao3! This is Zhy, and welcome to the second ff I've ever posted on here. I smashed this out at ungodly hours of the night when I was supposed to be studying for a history test, so no beta we die like John our beloved. :] Hope you guys enjoy!

It had been two short months since Wilbur had blown L’manberg to kingdom come and Quackity felt like garbage. A flaming pile of trash. A sad, sad lump of a person.

He had been working tirelessly on El Rapids in the past few days, taking immense pride in every brick he lay for the first structure—glad to create rather than destroy. Now that New L’manberg had been fully constructed, Quackity had much more time on his hands, even as the stand-in vice president of the young nation, and he had been itching to do something— _ anything _ —before he started El Rapids.

His lower back was starting to ache from the grueling labor and his hands were filled with scratches from the rough texture of the brick. Sighing to himself, Quackity abandoned his materials in favor of lying in the grass at the edge of El Rapids. He flopped onto the ground, splaying his limbs out. The sky above him glowed a brilliant golden-yellow in the late afternoon sun. The shade matched the hue of his wings, and that thought, along with the brilliant vision of the open sky, caused a painful twang deep in his heart.

A mournful expression crept onto Quackity’s face, and he stood up, tearing his gaze away from the beautiful sky. It was futile, though. El Rapids was at such a high altitude that the view from the ledge that Quackity sat on was near-equal to the view he would receive in flight. Quackity had purposefully built it this high, after all, but instead of satisfying him, instead of calming the restlessness that plagued him, it just succeeded in reminding him of the fact that he hadn't taken flight in nearly a year. His miniature wings, extending just past his shoulders, twitched behind him. Gently, he beat off the grass that was clinging to his feathers. 

He hadn’t stretched them in so long. He missed his full wingspan and the feeling of the air catching his wings, ruffling the hair that poked out the front of his beanie. The power he felt touching down on the ground after an exhilarating flight and the adrenaline that rushed through him when he dived and looped through the air—Quackity realized that he could barely remember it and the thought caused a bout of nausea to sweep through him.

He hated that and he hated this server and he hated the goddamn server entity and its strict rules and he wanted his wings back and he wanted to fly again. Why won’t they let him fly? Why?

“Alex?”

His mind went silent.

He looked behind him.

Karl and Sapnap.

He mustered a small, wobbly smile.

"Ayyy, guys..." his voice trailed off depressingly. Karl raised a judgemental eyebrow at him, seeing straight through his bullshit greeting. He didn't ask, though. He just made himself comfortable on Quackit’'s right. Sapnap settled down on his left, stretching out his legs in front of him and leaning back on his hands.

"Talk to us," Karl whispered, holding out his left hand wordlessly. Quackity eyed it before letting out a hefty sigh and slapping his palm into Karl's. Karl readjusted their hands, interlocking their fingers, as Sapnap copied the gesture, taking Quackity's left hand into his own.

Quackity squeezed both their hands earnestly before letting out another sigh. As he exhaled the air from his lungs, his whole body seemed to deflate along the way, leaving him hunched over, eyes on the ground far below, with his clammy palms clasped in the hands of his two best friends.

Sapnap opened his mouth to speak. A question? A comfort? The trio never found out because, at that moment, a sob ripped from Quackity's throat and his wings ruffled disturbingly against his back. He lifted his face and there were tears carving a river across his tan cheeks. Another undignified sob gurgled in the back of his throat and Quackity brutally yanked his hand out of Sapnap's to slap his palm over his mouth. Karl squeezed his other hand tighter, enclosing it in both of his own.

"I-" the words got caught in his throat. "I miss my wings, guys. I miss them so fucking much." The confession was barely a whisper and each word was coated in the roughness that comes from crying your eyes out. Karl moved to say something this time, but he was cut off by Quackity throwing his head back, skywards, and screeching into the near-silent night,

"I MISS MY FUCKING WINGS!" He was panting now—every rise and fall of his chest shallow and uneven.

"Come here," Karl mumbled softly, wrapping his free arm around Quackity and pulling him into a loose hug. Karl could feel Quackity's tears soaking into the fabric of his hoodie at the shoulder. He gave Sapnap a glance full of sympathy and sorrow over Quackity's shaking shoulders.

Quackity fisted his free hand into the fabric of Karl's technicolored hoodie. There was a lull in the tears streaming down his face as he grasped the familiar object like his last lifeline.

"It took them. Why did I fucking let it do that? This server is a fucking nightmare. It wasn't worth it..." Quackity was babbling now. Mourning a deal unknown to all but few. Sapnap and Karl exchanged another telling look as Quackity collapsed into Karl's chest, mumbling incomprehensibly.

Sapnap gave a minute nod before promptly poking Quackity in the side.

Karl immediately stared him down with an expression that could only mean "what the fuck are you doing." Sapnap just leaned closer to Quackity to ask him gently, "Big Q, tell us what happened, please. We want to help."

Quackity mumbled more gibberish into Karl's chest before dragging himself upright. He let out a small groan, remaining silent. He twisted his torso to look behind the group, where the grass grew to the end of El Rapids, and pawed through the grass for a small pebble. Only once he had the rock in hand, already fidgeting with it, did he begin.

"Only four people on the server know this—three if you... well, I'll get to it." He rolled the rock in his right palm, clearly unwilling to make eye contact with either Karl or Sapnap. "You know how in some other servers all hybrid abilities, including flight are allowed?" He didn't actually wait for any affirmation before continuing. "Well, Dream SMP has some strict code that cuts off access to other realms and restricts the abilities of hybrids. So, as a no-flight zone, wings are banned." The rock fell from his right hand to his left hand. Karl shifted his crisscrossed legs.

"To... enter the Dream SMP, I... had to give up my wings." Quackity's voice shook as he uttered the last word. The stinging in the back of his eyes threatened more tears. Sapnap reached out to him and slapped a solid hand down onto Quackity's shoulder. Quickly, Quackity shook his head against the waterworks and took a shaky inhale. He continued,

"They're not supposed to be this small, ya know?" Behind Quackity, his miniature wings—half the size he would need to ever remain airborne—flapped mockingly. Karl blinked at their movement, observing the structure of his friend's wings closer than he ever had before. Like this, they certainly appeared more cute than functional. 

A sardonic smile stretched across Quackity's face when he saw Karl's perplexed look. "They're supposed to be at least my arm span—longer, if I remember correctly." A dry laugh left his strained throat. "I don't know if you guys looked at Philza like really  _ looked _ at him when he first logged on to the server, but for those first few minutes, when he stood over Wilbur, his wings were full. Damaged, but full. And they were beautiful." Quackity went a little sparkly-eyed at the thought. He'd been daydreaming about the majestic look of Phil's wings since he logged on several weeks ago... and lamenting the loss of his own. His expression quickly sunk. "Now, they're just little grey fucking jokes. Like mine."

He chucked the pebble over the edge of El Rapids into the pool of water below. It made a visible ripple before sinking beneath the surface, but the trio was too far up to hear the accompanying plonk. Quackity grimaced, realizing he had just tossed his distraction and began to rip up the grass near Sapnap's legs. "Basically, to 'appease the Guardian,' or what vague, egotistical admin bullshit Dream was spewing when I meet him, I had to allow the server entity to diminish my wings and I'm certain Phil had to, too."

Sorrow and a bit of guilt overtook Sapnap's face. Despite how minuscule of an effect they usually have, Sapnap could barely imagine having to live without his fire powers—a by-product of his slight blaze hybridity—and felt horrible for having access to them when something so vital to Quackity had been stripped from him. Hesitantly, he asked, "Is... there any way to get them back?"

A disgustingly fake laugh left Quackity's mouth. "If there was, don't you think I would’ve already tried it? The only way to get them back would be to leave the server before I permadie."

A shudder flew down Karl's spine at the last word. No one liked to talk about it much, but Quackity was always exceedingly brave.

"And I would. I would just talk to Dream and fuck off back to a solo world, but... I don't want to leave you guys." A shy smile grew on Quackity's face. Sapnap and Karl returned it. The moment was shattered quickly, though. Quackity's expression turned bitter.

"You two are the only good things on this server." His voice was soft at first but it rapidly grew aggressive. "I spent half of my time here being Schlatt's fucking bitch. Quasi-vice president to a fucking crater," he spat venomously. "I'm a shit politician, a shit leader, and a shit friend."

Sapnap rolled his eyes. "Shut the fuck up, Quackity. None of that is true."

"Yeah, nimrod!" Karl snapped. "Trust me when I say that you are absolutely amazing-"

"But I'm not!" Quackity roared, slamming his fists into the grass underneath him. His vision blurred as his eyes filled with more tears. "I'm just a duck who can't fly. Some fucking loser hybrid who grounded himself  _ and _ I'm crying about it. I'm fucking useless!"

At this point, Sapnap and Karl knew that Quackity was too far gone in his head to listen to any refutes so they just, once again, took Quackity's hands into their own and watched the sunset below the horizon.

**Author's Note:**

> I love criticism, by the way, so if you guys have any idea of how I can improve my writing, feel free to (constructively) tear my work apart in the comments. Also, if you like my work and you wanna come hang out with me, stop by my Twitter: [@itszhyboo](https://twitter.com/itszhyboo)


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